I’ve Become a S*ave Bride - Chapter 62
“What is your name?”
A voice carrying the weight of the years gradually faded from his ears.
“It’s Ka… zen.”
“Kazen. That’s a lovely name. If you have nowhere to go, how would you like to live here with us?”
Kazen slowly opened his eyes.
A dream… I see.
Perhaps because the lingering feelings of the dream had not yet vanished, the white sandy beach and the emerald sea—so clear you could see right through it—shimmered before his eyes like an afterimage.
“The sea….”
He wanted to see the sea.
He wanted to see the Patana couple at dusk, unloading the fish they had caught from their boat against the backdrop of the sunset.
“I miss them….”
As he muttered softly, a voice as clear as that very sea suddenly piped up from beside him.
“Looking at you now, it wasn’t for my sake that you suggested going to the sea. You just wanted to go there yourself.”
He flinched.
Strength momentarily returned to his vacant eyes.
Who is this?
And where was he?
Soon after, like a chain reaction, a single name came to mind.
Lene.
Right. The woman who would formally become his wife in a few months.
“Ah. Since you’re awake, could you bring me some water?”
Naturally, the events of yesterday came back to him.
The provocations from Damer and Jaran—so predictable they were almost boring.
To Kazen, such things were a common occurrence.
However, the fact that those familiar insults occurred even in front of the woman who would become his bride was, frankly, a blow to his pride.
He had been about to speak up instead of ignoring it as he usually did, but that was when Lenette suddenly stepped in.
“Fine. I’ll fetch it. A full glass will do, right?”
The events of yesterday resurfaced in his mind one by one.
Right, that happened.
That woman had protected him.
Just like those two did…
Kazen closed his eyes again. Seeing this, Lenette muttered to herself.
“Is he talking in his sleep?”
He wasn’t, but he simply wanted to focus on the change occurring within him at this moment.
‘I’m not very familiar with the Tazetra language. Does the word ‘slave’ mean ‘a gift sent by the Great Khal’?’
How shocked he had been when Lenette said those words. And at the same time, how relieved.
Relieved, huh…
‘If that’s the case, then you are right. For the Khal sent me with the intention that I should become Lord Kazen’s wife and support him.’
He had been relieved because if she was defending him like that, it meant she wasn’t disappointed in him.
A tickling, moving sensation bloomed near his heart and rose up through his throat.
This feeling…
It wasn’t unfamiliar. It was a sensation that had once permeated his life long ago.
It was the same back then.
Was that why he had dreamt that dream after all this time?
As he calmly followed his emotions and organized his thoughts, his mind cleared. In truth, since leaving for the capital, a foreign emotion had been slowly taking root within him. No—perhaps it was a feeling that had begun even before then—but regardless, it had started to take a concrete shape after the series of events during this journey to the capital.
But he had a long way to go and much on his mind, so he hadn’t bothered to identify what that feeling was.
Yet now, he knew.
It’s comfortable.
Being with Lenette was fun and comfortable. Perhaps that was why he felt a strange sense of stability.
That’s enough.
His decision was made.
It was laughable to reach such a conclusion right after waking up, but he had decided that he must make Lenette entirely his own.
“Lenette.”
Kazen opened his eyes and called her name. But there was no answer.
“Lenette?”
He sat up and scanned the room, but she was gone. She must have slipped out silently in the meantime.
Whether his voice had been too loud or not, Nazan entered the room just then.
“Lady Lenette went out a moment ago with Kuz.”
She took Kuz with her? He hadn’t heard a sound as she left.
Had he been that deep in thought?
“Alone?”
“The warriors tried to accompany her, but she refused. Since Kuz was with her, we respected Lady Lenette’s wishes.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“She said she was going for a walk just out front.”
Kazen snatched a thin tunic draped over a chair and threw it on.
He headed straight for the balcony to check outside. He spotted Lenette. She was heading toward the small islet located between Karan Palace and Karta Palace.
After staring blankly for a moment at her thin legs moving busily along, Kazen suddenly froze in shock.
“…The Garden of Markhal?”
He hurriedly fastened his clothes and bolted out the door.
“Lord Kazen? Where are you going?”
“The herb garden!”
The herb garden.
That place belonged to Kazen’s grandmother, Markhal. It was a place that fierce, stubborn old woman cherished more than her own grandchildren.
—
A short while earlier.
I want to visit that field over there….
Originally, she had intended to go with Kazen once morning came. However, for some reason, he showed no signs of waking up. So, Lenette decided to venture out on her own. Fortunately, perhaps because the palace was secure, the warriors did not stop her.
I needed some time alone anyway. This is for the best.
So many things had happened in such a short span yesterday that she’d had no time to think. Furthermore, thanks to that man—Damer or Damet or whatever his name was—and his wife, she didn’t have the mental energy to weigh and consider her future.
“This is actually better.”
She’d take this chance to organize everything that had occurred. Lenette fell into deep thought as she walked slowly.
Kazen isn’t from a collateral branch.
The moment she acknowledged that sentence, worries came crashing in like a tide.
And of all things, he’s the eldest son.
Running away in the middle of the night was definitely out of the question now.
It’s not just a nighttime escape.
Escaping in any manner seemed impossible. Of course, if she prepared thoroughly, she couldn’t say the probability of success was zero. But the problem was that she couldn’t guarantee how much time it would take to execute such a plan.
‘I have to get to Ecaron as quickly as possible.’
Was it because of her thirst for revenge?
No.
Revenge could wait two or three years; she just had to bide her time for the right opportunity. The problem wasn’t revenge. It was her family left in Ecaron and the servants who had been captured along with them by the bandits.
‘I have to find them as quickly as possible and move them to a safe place.’
She didn’t want to leave her family under the King of Ecaron—a man who changed his mind as easily as flipping his palm—a moment longer. That was why she had used the marriage as a pretext to come to the capital, where travel and escape would be easier… but things had turned out like this.
As she felt herself slipping into despair again, Lenette shook her head vigorously.
Now is not the time for despair.
It was time for action.
‘I have to think. How am I going to get through this?’
Lenette stopped in her tracks, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Kuz, who had been following her, bumped his forehead against her foot.
Mya?
Kuz looked up at her, but Lenette didn’t react, focusing entirely on her thoughts.
What I want, and what I can do.
Let’s start with those.
What I want is revenge and the safety of my family.
Of these two, revenge wasn’t urgent, but the safety of her family was a matter of extreme priority.
And for that, what is it that I can do?
The route of escape was blocked. She had to choose a way to return to her home country with her head held high.
She steadied her breathing even further. Within the given conditions, she concentrated on making the most rational judgment possible.
Maybe Kazen being the Khal’s son isn’t just a misfortune.
Lenette recalled the words she had muttered to herself yesterday in a daze.
‘A special envoy….’
Honestly, it was an absurd idea. There was no place more reclusive than the Tazetra Empire. In such an empire, how could she—someone who had nothing to her name except being ‘Kazen’s wife’—become an envoy and travel to Ecaron, a place with which they had no exchange? Who would possibly lend her their support?
‘Aside from being an envoy, what other methods are there?’
Regrettably, no other way came to mind.
‘I lack information.’
She needed to understand what the people of the Underwater Temple wanted and how their interests aligned to find a gap to exploit, but having only arrived yesterday, there was nothing she could know.
‘Even so, to just sit quietly and wait….’
Her family still weighed heavily on her heart.
‘What should I do?’
Lenette suddenly recalled the wooden plaque she had received at the Candy Palace.
‘If you visit the Kasabi Merchant Guild in the capital, tell them I sent you and show them this; they will help you, Lady Lenette’
‘Should I… at least bring my family to a safe place first?’
If all else failed….
Lenette turned her gaze toward Karta Palace, where Kazen would be sleeping.
‘I could also ask Kazen to find my family….’
As she followed that train of thought, she shook her head.
‘……No. I can’t ask him.’
Because her family could end up becoming hostages.
‘I’m trying to spirit them away for their safety… but if I do that, it might make things even more dangerous.’
While she was busy weighing her options and judging the situation, she arrived at her destination. It was the garden patch she had discovered while fetching water last night. The well-tended garden sat between Karan Palace and Karta Palace, with various plants neatly organized and planted by type.
Approaching it, Lenette discovered one fact.
“It’s a medicinal herb garden.”
Inside, instead of common vegetables used as ingredients, various herbs used for medicine were growing lushly.
‘Who is the owner of this garden?’
Thinking logically, a garden patch that might mar the palace’s appearance sat right in the middle of the grounds, not tucked away in a corner. There were only two people who could do such a thing within the Khal’s domain: the Khal or Markhal.
Lenette stared intently at the herb garden for a moment, then took a bold step inside.
